Author Gail Gauthier's Reflections On Children's Books, Writing, And The World of Children's Publishing

Friday, September 07, 2012

There Is Something To Be Said For Reading Bad Writing

I've said before here that there is value in reading poor quality writing. Avi says something similar in his blog post The Anatomy of Mediocrity. It's not so much that I read dreadful writing and think, as he does, “I can do better than this!” Or, “I write better than this!” In my case, it's more like, I hope I can do better than this, or Dear God, don't let me write this badly.

But, yes, you can learn from reading writing you don't like. It becomes a model for what you don't want to do.

About Me

I'm the author of eight books for children and young adults, all published by G.P. Putnam's Sons. I've republished Saving the Planet & Stuff as an eBook. Now I have experience wading in both the traditional and self-publishing pools. My essays have been published at The Millions and Literary Mama, and my short stories at Alimentum and Cricket. I have been blogging at Original Content for eleven years.